When Genevieve woke up the next morning, she realised how stupid it was to have allowed herself to sleep like that. She and Caspian should have taken shifts to stay awake. The last thing she needed was someone ending her Hunger Games early with a knife to her throat whilst she slept, blissfully unaware.

Today she and Caspian had planned to go out in search of anything valuable on the mountain range. It seemed like the most practical thing to do — you needed to know your surroundings to survive in them. She had heard countless times about the dangers of staying in one place during the games from her trainers back home.

She missed district four more than she thought she would, she longed for the ocean air and saltwater breeze she'd grown accustomed to over the years.

After packing their kits with fresh water and food Genevieve and Caspian headed out in search of a way up the mountain. Sticks and leaves crunched beneath their feet, as they trailed the edges of the forest looking for an obvious path to take. A small smile pulled at Genevieve's lips when she heard the rustle of animals around her, it was a comfort to know that if they ran out of rations she could always hunt. The sounds of nature had always soothed her, not as much as those of the ocean but she was sure she wouldn't find that here. There didn't seem to be any water around apart from a few small puddles.

It was a little unnerving that she had yet to see any signs of tributes passing through but she imagined most of them would have stayed in familiar environments and not risked the climb. They needed more kills today or at least something relatively interesting. If they went any longer with such a big alliance and no other deaths, there was a chance the career pack could get ugly and unleash their anger on each other.

Her head snapped up as a cannon sounded, it calmed her racing mind. Hopefully that meant the rest of the pack had caught someone else in their search of the forest. She wanted at least three kills today to ensure there were no interferences on the capital side.

Genevieve chugged the last of her water as the sunlight beat down on her skin while they continued on, she made a mental note to check if there was any pain relief medication in the bag just in case the heat triggered a headache.

Trudging along, she and Caspian examine the rock face for any grooves. She was not quite sure if the mountains were even possible to climb which irritated her to no end.

"Hey! Genevieve over here." Caspian yelled and she jogged over to see what he was pointing at. "Look at the top of those boulders doesn't that look like—"

"A dam." She breathed, craning her neck to look up. "Why would they put a dam up there if you can't get to it?" She wondered, looking around to see if she'd missed anything.

"Maybe it's the main water source. Like if the other lakes dry up they can funnel that water into them." Caspian shrugged seemingly unnerved by the situation.

"Maybe the path up the mountain will appear later in the games when there are only a few tributes left."

"It doesn't matter either way, until the path appears there's no reason to climb it. Let's just head back to base now." Caspian said, picking up his pack and discarded weapons.

"I don't know, there must be some kind of twist to it. It's too serene. This arena has to be the prettiest one in years and yet there's no hidden dangers or poisonous plants. Surely something bad has to happen." Caspian grunted at her rambling and began his trek back to camp. "Everything is only beautiful because we're doomed." He huffed, angering her with his pessimistic response. "The only twist we'll ever see is if we continue like this with no kills, spending all day wandering around to look at rock faces." He snapped, kicking a rock towards a nearby tree to release some of his pent up anger.

For a brief second Genevieve wondered what it would be like to plunge her sword into the back of his neck. To end the inevitable now, in an instant, to spare both of them the pain. That seemed like the kind of thing where waiting for the time to be right would just mean waiting forever. There was no right time to end her district partner's life and deep down she felt as though there never would be.

It would be cowardly to attack him while his back was turned, for Caspian Michaels deserved a death worthy of a true warrior, and Genevieve would not deprive him of the fight leading up to it. She would make death proud to take either one of them.

Before she could contemplate the reason behind their pitiful existence any longer, the ground began to shake.

The impact sent her stumbling forward as the floor shifted between her feet. She was scrambling up in seconds as she heard rumbling from behind her. Caspian had also been thrown forward by the impact but had somehow managed to stay on his feet. Genevieve didn't bother turning around because she knew what was happening.

The game makers were messing with them. Showing them just a little sliver of their power as a warning to keep the show rolling. Somehow the plates between their feet had been programmed to move on command. Which posed a terrible danger considering they were surrounded by piles of unstable rocks that could easily come loose between tremors.

"That's dangerous. We'll need to move base to higher ground in case something like that happens again." She panted as the jolting stopped.

"Or not." Caspian smiled deviously.

"What is wrong with you we'll get swept away by the rocks if that happens again." She hissed, glancing over her shoulder, debating whether or not to slap him for his ignorance.

"No listen, we'll let the rest of the alliance stay down here and then during the day we split up and head to higher ground. Scope out the area and make a temporary shelter. Eventually we stay here permanently and hope our biggest threats get taken out by a couple of rocks." He grinned and Genevieve took a moment to consider what he was proposing.

"You are not as stupid as you look." She said finally, earning an affronted look from her district partener.